Leadership Tea
The Leadership Tea podcast is where powerful leaders share their journeys, insights, and triumphs through informal conversations about what it takes to reach the executive level. Join us every other Wednesday to be inspired by the unvarnished stories of amazing executives who know what it's like to be "the only" at the table and who have succeeded regardless. They have proven leadership experience in their respective fields, from international affairs to the private sector to academia, and want to help others create their own success stories.
Leadership Tea
Unfiltered Wisdom: Crafting Our Leadership Blueprint
Welcome to the Leadership Tea Podcast! In this episode, we want to introduce ourselves to you and share more details explaining why we have created this podcast and what we hope you get out of this series.
This isn't your typical leadership podcast. We are here to break down barriers and offer you a seat at our table. Join our community of thought leaders and changemakers, and let's cultivate a space for growth, reflection, and the unapologetic pursuit of excellence.
Every other week, we're rolling out episodes packed with our own stories and insights and those of our guests.
Find us on YouTube!
We publish new episodes every other Wednesday.
Follow us on Instagram @Leadership_Tea for more inspiration and insights.
Learn more about us and the podcast at www.stirringsuccess.com
Looks like we're ready to do this
Belinda:to start by telling people a little bit more about us and who we are?
Shelby:That sounds like a plan to me.
Belinda:You want to go first or should I? All right, my name is Belinda Jackson-Fairier. I was a US diplomat for about 20 years. I served in different parts of Latin America and also in West Africa and Central Africa. Then I had a lot of assignments in Washington that focused on crisis management and public affairs, or as we call it, at the Department of State, public diplomacy. I left the State Department and I went on to work in the private sector for a while. Now I have ventured into entrepreneurship Throughout all of that, and I think what I'm hoping to bring to this podcast is that I had a lot of experience leading diverse teams, multicultural teams, international teams, both in the public sector and in the private sector.
Belinda:Through all of those times, I felt like I was winging it, often Because my levels of responsibility grew. I felt like I was mentoring a lot of people but not really trained on how to coach them. I felt like I was facing really intense situations at work, whether they were HR issues or it was helping lead people through a crisis. I was piecing together the roadmap on what to do, shelby, as we talked over the years and supported each other, it felt like there's this gap of information that shares leadership advice, but not always leadership advice that everybody can identify with, I felt like, okay, well, I'm a woman, I'm a woman of color in the workplace. The way that I have to lead teams is different than often what the textbooks say. The thing for me, as I think about this journey in this podcast and what we bring to the table, it is about offering the conversations that maybe five, 10, well, maybe even two or three years ago, that people were having, maybe even now. What is that's me and me, and that's what I'm hoping to bring. What about you?
Shelby:Yeah, my name is Shelby Smith Wilson. I am currently a Foreign Service Officer. I've been with the State Department for almost 25 years and served primarily in Latin America, but did a tour in Africa and also served in Europe, along with some domestic assignments in between, serving primarily in the crisis management, space, personnel management, enterprise-wide change management, policy policy analysis, major event planning. I've done quite a bit of different things over the years. Like you, belinda, I've always been inspired to coach and help other people because I felt like something was missing for me coming up the ranks.
Shelby:I had mentors, but there was always a gap when it came to my relationships with women, particularly women of color, because we just didn't have that many, frankly, at the State Department, and there was a gap in the sense of okay, I wasn't necessarily flailing.
Shelby:There were certainly challenging situations that I found myself in and spaces that I had to navigate where there was no roadmap and most of the time, my mentors would only reach out if I needed them. It wasn't kind of a proactive like hey, shelby, let's talk about this, let's talk about that. And there was certainly a gap when it came to women of color playing that role, definitely, and so I think that reality has inspired me, inspired our conversations over the years. We've been winging it like, as you said, just helping people informally, mentoring, coaching, looking out for folks. But what has been missing is the encouragement, the inspiration, the kind of frank conversations that you and I have had at a peer level. But when it comes to having someone who has done it before has gone before us, that personal connection has been missing and that has motivated me to want to do this podcast with you so that we can give back some of what was missing for us 100%, I completely agree.
Belinda:So, as you think about like right, what we've got planned, what do you feel excited about?
Shelby:I'm excited that we're bringing different perspectives from our various networks. I mean, we are fortunate, we're blessed to have been in spaces where you know some people may say we've breathed rare air. And you know, we know people in various disciplines, whether it's corporate people working in other spaces, in the national security, foreign affairs arena, people in academia, but we just know a lot of rock star women who are, you know, like you and I. They're not necessarily the Brene Browns of the world or the Oprah Winfrey's, but we have, you know, dynamic, powerful networks of women who have just incredible stories of triumph and perseverance that are relatable, and I think that's what our listeners are going to appreciate the most.
Belinda:And that's what excites me.
Shelby:What about you?
Belinda:I feel like the people that we're gonna have on and the topics that we're gonna talk about are things that like give people moments to like where you're like snap, I need to write that down. Right, snap, I'm like you know, implement that. So, whether it's we're talking about how to build a village around you and support you, whether we're talking about you know how we're going to reflect on our, on our lives, and think about kind of self-reflection and, you know, or even pivoting careers, it's like the people that we've chosen are the kinds of friends that when you're talking to them, they're the ones that leave you going like, oh, okay, right, like standing your business, I'm here for you, like it's given like rich auntie, like who's having, like all the moments, right, right, I want, like I want people to leave excited, mm-hmm.
Belinda:Like they feel like, okay, I walked away with something I can use, like news I can use yep this time is precious and you know you want to make the the most use of the time that you've got so yeah, that's what. So I'm kind of hoping for that's. That's what I feel I got. I've gotten out of it so far is like I'm literally walking around quoting people okay me too, I've got my little note cards, my, my journal.
Shelby:I have what I call a leadership journal and every time I hear something profound I write it down, and certainly some of our guests have just been dropping wisdom, mm-hmm that I have taken down in my notepad.
Belinda:Aging as a privilege is one that just stuck with me, mm-hmm so, everybody, that is our episode about that's bitter, bitter, bitter brews and sweet success, mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely listen to that episode because, yeah, there were a lot of gems dropped there, but all of them have been great. Yes, so we're really excited about sharing them. So, with that said, you know, this is this is, I don't know, new ground for us. Like, we are not podcast experts. We are new to this space and so we we're gonna learn right along with everyone.
Belinda:Yeah, like, we're doing our best to put out an authentic, real product that, like, because that's coming from our hearts. Like we're doing this because so many people have come to us over the years for information, for advice, and these are some of the themes that we see over and over again that we think we want to share with as many people as possible. Like, yeah, more knowledge and more information about. So, with that said, I feel like it's time that we can share some other ways that you can continue to follow us, right, like, obviously, wherever you're listening to us. If you could like and follow our podcast, that would be deeply appreciated. Yeah, you could continue to like, listen to our episodes. Like, give us a few episodes, try us out, like we're, you know, trying different things, but grow with us go easy on us.
Shelby:Like you said, we're not you know, expert podcasters. But we have. We have gifts to share.
Belinda:I like that. That's true, and if you want to leave a super view or you want to, you know, rate our podcast, that would be appreciated as well. We also have a website that we've set up. It's called stirring success calm, and there you can also, like you can, learn more about us. You can also fill out a form to leave your questions or ideas on show topics or just your general thoughts. We would also. We're also on Instagram, yeah, and that's at leadership, underscore T, and you know, there we're just gonna continue to post some of our thoughts and share some of our ideas in between shows.
Shelby:And let us know what you want to hear about. If there's a topic that is missing from other shows that you might listen to, that you think would be relevant to our conversations, let us know. We're here for it. You know, one thing that we haven't mentioned is that you and I have a bond. We've known each other for a long time. We are like the soul sisters and just connected in multiple ways. You know, when it comes to our upbringing, you know both being raised in the church in the South, both married with kids.
Belinda:Yeah, we have been friends for a really long time and I hope that that comes through for people and I feel like the only the risk I feel with that is that we know each other so well. Sometimes we're not like fully communicating, like I'm just like I know what you're thinking.
Shelby:Yeah, exactly, the vibe is just there, is like okay.
Belinda:So I just have to like think to myself, like I must say out loud what feels intuitive and just know that we're just out here, we're having fun, yeah, and we can actually do this and share and have fun and have one more adventure together.
Shelby:Yeah, have fun, have adventure, share some light, sprinkle a little pixie dust. You know what I'm saying.
Belinda:And even though we're leadership team, maybe somewhere at some point we have a toast on an episode like oh for sure, we can do that.
Shelby:Yes, yes, we can.
Belinda:Sangria and our future. Can we turn?
Shelby:that into tea, okay, and then we can have margaritas, definitely. So right after we're done with dry January, yeah, yes, right, yes, that's right, we are fasting. Yes, praise the Lord, we are.
Belinda:Yes, we can do that. Yeah, right after God, help us. But with that said, you know, I just want to thank everyone for listening and there's a lot of, I think, really great episodes to come. Oh, one more thing we should say we are our plan is to release episodes every other week. Yes, which is not normal, like normally, podcasts are every week or every couple of days. But I'm free, I'm happy to admit like I'm busy.
Shelby:Yeah, you're busy. Me too. I've got a real yeah, like, like, real, like a good government job and speaking of that, let's just make it clear, because I don't want to lose my good government job. I don't want to do that. This, every episode, is being done on a personal level, reflecting my views, belinda's views, the views of our guests. This is not official, not sanctioned by anybody, nobody's paying us, at least not yet, maybe in the future, but right now is just Belinda and I here to just share some wisdom, share some love.
Belinda:Just giving our thoughts and the same for our guests as well. Yes, Because we're busy. We're balancing a lot Right now. Our plan is to release every other week. Let us know how you feel about it Absolutely.
Shelby:We look forward to stirring success and sipping wisdom with you all.
Belinda:Definitely Thank you.
